LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — If Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards Jr., Andrew Carr and Oumar Ballo earn invitations to NBA training camps next fall, it will not be on the strength of dominant performances at the 71st Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational last week.
Hepburn and Edwards (Louisville), Carr (Kentucky) and Ballo (Indiana) were solid performers in the eight-team, 64-player invitational only event. But none of the four made the 13-player all-tournament team.
The only player with a local connection to achieve that status was Tamar “Scoop” Bates, who played his first two seasons at IU before playing his final two at Missouri.
The Portsmouth tournament is played every April as a showcase event for players who are borderline selections for the upcoming NBA Draft or candidates to play in the NBA G-League or earn professional contracts overseas.
It’s an event that helped launch the NBA careers of guys like Dennis Rodman, Jimmy Butler and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Former New Mexico center Nelly Junior Joseph was voted the tournament MVP.
Here are the stats for the four local players, who each played in three games:
Hepburn: 31 points; 10-28 FGA; 3-14 3FGA; 18 assists; 16 rebounds.
Edwards Jr: 41 points; 16-52 FGA; 7-26 3FGA; 10 assists; 14 rebounds.
Carr: 27 points; 11-32 FGA; 3-13 3FGA; 14 rebounds.
Ballo: 39 points; 13-23 FGA; 21 rebounds.
These players were named to the all-tournament team:
Curtis Jones, Iowa State.
Steven Ashworth, Creighton.
Nelly Junior Joseph, New Mexico.
Sean Pedulla, Ole Miss.
Tamar Bates, Missouri.
R.J. Felton, East Carolina.
Moussa Cisse, Memphis.
Julian Reese, Maryland.
Johnell Davis, Arkansas.
Wooga Poplar, Villanova.
Cam Carter, LSU.
Cesare Edwards, Georgia State.
Zach Freemantle, Xavier.
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